Players come together for ailing coach

Updated 12:22 PM ET, Sat May 28, 2016

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Photos:Players come together for ailing coach

Don Horton, a beloved football coach for Boston College and North Carolina State University, was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2006. In the years since, he kept in touch with many seasons of players. When he needed them most, his players rallied to help him and his family.

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Photos:Players come together for ailing coach

"Thinking back on it, we thought, 'We've got this. We can do this.' We missed the progressive degenerative part of the diagnosis," says wife Maura Horton, here in April with Libby, 13, Don and Hadley, 8.

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Photos:Players come together for ailing coach

Former NFL players Rob Tardio, Scott Dragos and Paul Zukaukas presented Horton with the funds they raised for him and his family. "It was four grown men crying in my living room," said his wife.

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Photos:Players come together for ailing coach

Former Chicago Bears guard Josh Beekman came to the Hortons' home in Raleigh, North Carolina, to visit the coach in the past two weeks.

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Photos:Players come together for ailing coach

Horton was known for keeping up with players long after the left the field. Kevin Sheridan wrote that he has modeled his coaching style after Horton.

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Photos:Players come together for ailing coach

"In a football world where players are treated as numbers, you treated us as people, and stood out," wrote Ryan Utzler, former running back at Boston College.